ArticleBMC primary care2022
Motivations of the participants who post a message in an online health forum: a qualitative and quantitative descriptive study in French health forum Doctissimo.
Article in BMC primary care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Clusters of Patient Empowerment and Mental Health Literacy Differentiate Professional Help-Seeking Attitudes in Online Mental Health Communities Users.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFor more than 20 years, and despite the development of new social networks, health forums have remained a privileged place for people to discuss health issues. This study investigates the motivations of participants to post a message on a French online health forum (called 'Doctissimo') (Forum Santé - Doctissimo, 2022).
methodBetween January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019, all the first messages recorded on the health forum doctissimo ( www.forum.doctissimo.fr ) were selected in their initial format by a crawler. The transcripts were imported into the qualitative analysis software Nvivo. Two researchers coded the data until a theoretical saturation was obtained.
resultsWe identified four categories of motivation: 1) 'Questioning' allows the exchange of mainly medical information, or sharing of feedback on experiences with the disease: 1722 codes, 44.8%, 2) Worry, need for reassurance: 1066 codes, 27.7% about symptoms or anticipatory anxiety, 3) 'Expressing oneself' mainly allows a catharsis and thus an emotional release, especially negative, but also to share a personal experience: 764 codes 19.9%, 4) Community spirit is a central element to create an emotional support group for psychological support, exchange ideas, meet people in similar situations: 291 codes, 7.6%. The relationship with a health professional when mentioned is generally marked by doubts 39.5%, confusion, or lack of information and the need for additional elements 64.6% or reassurance 60%. The relationship and the obstacles to a medical consultation are described in relation to the use of the forum: immediate availability, anonymity, absence of taboo and community spirit.
conclusionThe use of information sources offered by the Internet is a way to ask questions, to be reassured, to express oneself or to be confirmed by the community in the hypothesis emitted by a health professional. Patients are looking for an immediate answer, they come to the community for reassurance, they feel free and legitimate.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.